By Sarah Lang/The Lebanon Reporter
Lebanon — When Karrie Yancy-Hibbard was 7 years old, her grandmother gave her a gift that would stir a passion in her for the rest of her life. It was a Mickey Mouse watercolor set.
“I’ll never forget that,” Yancy-Hibbard said. “So I’ve always had an interest in painting.”
Yancy-Hibbard, whose artwork is on display in the Lebanon Municipal Building, has been painting on the side as an emotional release ever since. The displayed paintings are acrylic, watercolor and oil, and center around scenes of nature, the Amish and parrots — a bright piece she created for her son’s room. The Amish scenes are her husband’s favorites.
The artist has taken some workshops, but she is mostly self-taught. And the aphorism, “It takes 100 paintings to get one good one,” is basically true, she said.
“It’s not bad, but it has its days,” she said.
Yancy-Hibbard has been on the board for the Indiana Watercolor Society and has been involved with the Indiana Plein Air Painters Association. She used to teach at the SullivanMunce Cultural Center, and has taught more informal classes off and on in the county. She is just now getting involved with the Lebanon Arts Council.
But there’s more artistic expression for Yancy-Hibbard than painting. Every year, she creates a line of Christmas cards and ornaments for friends and family. She also creates jewelry.
“There are 100 people in my head all trying to be creative,” she said. “Sometimes all at the same time.”
She even brings her creative side to work as an employment and training advisor for Work One West in Indianapolis. They partner with the unemployment agency, and she says her painting has helped her be more creative in finding ways to help people get jobs.
Now she is looking for new opportunities to teach. Her dream, she said, is to eventually have studio space to paint and teach, or for Lebanon to have its own building for the arts.
“I think, to make a community strong, we need art,” she said. “And a lot of it.”
Many of Yancy-Hibbard’s pieces are for sale. Pick up a card at the Lebanon Municipal Building or call Yancy-Hibbard at 482-9690 for more information.
